Biography
Daniel Dale Johnston was born on January 22, 1961, in Sacramento, California, and grew up in New Cumberland, West Virginia, the youngest of five children.[1] He began recording in the late 1970s on a cheap mono boombox, singing over piano and chord organ.[1]
He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in his early twenties and spent long stretches in psychiatric care, and his songs return again and again to love, faith and the fear of the devil.[1][2] After his friend and muse Laurie Allen became engaged and left in 1982, he wrote close to a hundred songs about her and moved in with his brother.[1]
He made his name through home-recorded cassettes such as Hi, How Are You, which he handed out in Austin, Texas, and an appearance on MTV in 1985.[1] Kurt Cobain's habit of wearing a shirt with the Hi, How Are You artwork brought him a major-label bidding war in the early 1990s, and he signed with Atlantic in 1994 before being dropped in 1996.[1][2] He died on or about September 11, 2019, at the age of 58.[1][2]
References
- Daniel Johnston, Wikipedia — Biography: birth and death dates, bipolar diagnosis, Laurie Allen, home-recorded cassettes, Austin years, Kurt Cobain, label deals and covers.
- Remembering Daniel Johnston, Longreads — Tom Maxwell's obituary essay, including the reading of the song as a promise with a catch and the account of the Kramer sessions.